This invention is generally related to the presentation of narratives in audio, visual, and audio-visual forms.
The art of storytelling is a form of communication dating back to ancient times. Storytelling allows humans to pass information on to one another for entertainment and instructional purposes. Oral storytelling has a particularly long history and involves the describing of a series of events using words and other sounds. More recently, storytellers have taken advantage of pictures and other visual presentations to relate the events comprising the story. Particularly effective is a combination of audio and visual representations, most commonly found in motion pictures and video.
Until recently, narrative presentations have typically been non-interactive, the series of events forming the story being presented in a predefined order, including a single level of predefined content. Interactive narrative presentation has only recently become available with the increasing availability of computers. These interactive presentations typically allow a user to control the direction that the story takes, effecting the order in which events are presented and often affecting the outcome of the story. For example, many video games and instructional computer programs for children present a series of events where user selections change the order of presentation of the events, and can cause the computer to present some events, while not presenting other events. Thus, a number of branching points exist in the narrative at which the user selection determines which of the events will be presented and the order of presentation. By varying selections, the user is presented with a different narrative each time.
Common forms of the narrative presentation, such as books, audio tapes, video tapes, motion pictures, and theatrical productions limit the user""s ability to explore a particular character""s motivations and subconscious mind. While some authors may provide a great deal of insight into a character""s mental impressions, the level of insight that the user receives is necessarily limited by the narrative presentation. This often presents a problem for readers and listeners who wish to delve deeply in a character""s motivations. This can also present an annoyance to listeners and readers who do not wish to delve as deeply as the author has intended, dissuading these listeners and readers from listening to and/or viewing the particular narrative.
Under one aspect of the invention, a method of storytelling in an interactive system includes presenting a narrative, interrupting the presentation of the narrative in response to a user input, presenting information regarding at least one mental impression of a character in the narrative, and continuing the presentation of the narrative after presenting the information. Thus, the user may interrupt the narrative to more deeply explore the mental impressions of one or more characters in the narrative, and then pick up the narrative from the point where the user left off.
In another aspect of the invention, the method of storytelling includes presenting the narrative, interrupting the narrative presentation to present nonfictional background information or analysis of the mental impressions of at least one of the characters, and then continuing the presentation of the narrative.
In a further aspect of the invention, a method of teaching in an interactive system includes presenting at least a first set of nonfictional psychological background information, and presenting a narrative in response to a user selection including a series of events demonstrating human actions and interactions consistent with the first set of nonfictional psychological background information.